ASK THE DUST - JOHN FANTE

This one has been on the radar since I lived in LA and heard this one one of the essential LA books. It takes place in Bunker Hill, a no-longer existing neighborhood that is in countless noir films. I used to work, partially, in the area that Bunker Hill used to occupy so it was fun to map what I know about the area onto the events and places mentioned in the book. The book itself is quite good, and its goodness rests on the strength of the voice. Fante writes as Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer, who moved from Colorado to LA to make it big. He’s delusional, full of himself, racist and mean. He struggles in the slums, he wanders the streets and worries about money. He tries to get laid but ends up talking himself out of it every time and giving more money than he has to prostitutes that he can’t even bring himself to sleep with. He gets infatuated with a Mexican waitress who he treats terribly. He gets stuck in a real odi et amo situation with her, while she falls in love with another man, who is also a writer (though a worse one). Their relationship is the crux of the book, he loves her, but he’s mean to her. She doesn’t really love him but tolerates and is confused by his actions. She loves this other man deeply and he doesn’t care about her. While I had assumed that the book would chart his descent into abjection and failure, the book switches it up and Arturo is actually successful. He sells stories and later a novel and has money. He tries to rescue the bar-maid by throwing money at her but, surprise, it doesn’t work. She vanishes into the desert. There is a very interesting subplot about her being addicted to Marijuana and going to a den to smoke it, which was apparently a completely dark room with people smoking in silence. Also, there is a man with a wooden leg which has a door which contains a joint. Very cool. Anyway, the writing itself is really strong, the book was easy to read and Fante really balances Bandini’s delusions and cruelty with real pathos and pity. It would be easy for him to just be super unlikable and a total asshole. It would also be easy to have this clear author stand-in be so pathetic that you feel sorry for him. Fante threads the needle, does both and neither, threading the needle and creating a character that actually feels real.